Windows 10: Access Denied on External Hardisk

This happened after I used my external hard disk on a MacBook. The Mac didn't recognize the hard disk quickly, so I unplugged and re-plugged it multiple times until the disk became visible. I used Tuxera Disk on the Mac and tried the "Fix Problem" function, but unfortunately, an error occurred. After that, my Mac could no longer detect the hard disk.However, my PC Windows can still read the hard disk, but it takes a very long time to load the data. I tried to move my important folder to my PC, but I kept getting an "Access Denied" message. I’ve tried many methods from YouTube, but none of th

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Access Denied to any external drive

Hi,



Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.



I understand that you are facing issues with accessing external drives on your PC, as it gives access denied error. I certainly appreciate your efforts in trying to resolve the issue by following certain troubleshooting steps.



Let’s try a couple of troubleshooting steps and see if that helps.



Method 1:



Try resetting the permissions using icacls command and see if that helps.

1. Press Windows +
   S key together to open Search.
   
2. Now type CMD and select Run as administrator.
   
3. Accept the UAC prompts.
   
4. Type in the following command and hit Enter:
   
   ICACLS * /reset /t /c /q
   
5. Restart the PC
   

Method 2:



Enable built-in administrator and check if you are able to access the external drives. Kindly follow the steps mentioned below:

1. Now press Windows +
   S key together to open Search.
   
2. Now type CMD and select Run as administrator.
   
3. Accept the UAC prompts.
   
4. Type in the following commands one by one and hit
   Enter:
   
   net user administrator /active:yes
   

If you are able to access the drives in built-in administrator, then create a new user account using built-in administrator and check if you are still able to access the drives. Refer the article

Create a local user or administrator account in Windows 10



Let us know how it goes.



Regards,

Prakhar Khare

Microsoft Community – Moderator

 

Access denied to external drive

Thank you for the prompt reply. I spent some time working through the different suggestions you gave and on the linked pages, without success. I stopped short of formatting the drive or reinstalling windows. No other issues I can find.

Controlled Folder Access was not a problem.

Found the access denied issue on 3 different PCs. But no problem accessing an ordinary external flash drive (FAT32).

Running as Admin I can take ownership, apply that to all files and folders and I can also access the directory structure and copy files from DOS, running as admin.

And logged in from another Admin user account still has the same problem.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks.

 

LAPTOP is not accessible ..... Access is denied.

I am trying to share a folder on a LAPTOP. I have other a number of other systems that have folders Shared and they work fine, but with this one I get the error "LAPTOP is not accessible ..... Access is denied." when I try to access it from a different Win10 system. So I went thru the entire "How to Share Files and Folders Over a Network in Windows 10" tutorial step by step. File and Print Sharing is enabled, SMB1.0 client & server are running, and Everyone has Full Access to the Share. Still get the error. I have tried it with the Network Public and Private, with the same result. Any suggestions ? Microsoft Windows 10 Home Version 10.0.19042 Build 19042